


life imitating art

by breezydreams



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Assassins AU, Characters Reading Fanfiction, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25662082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breezydreams/pseuds/breezydreams
Summary: In which Dick and Jason decide to read some tropey Nightwing and Red Hood fanfiction.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	life imitating art

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Constant Craving: An Underused Trope Anthology](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24556492) by [elwon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elwon/pseuds/elwon). 



Dick scowled as he flipped through the DVDs in his movie cabinet. He had looked everywhere, and this was the third time he had flipped through his collection, trying to find his copy of Sleeping Beauty. An odd choice perhaps, but Dick was feeling nostalgic tonight. He sighed once more before walking away and resignedly sat down beside Jason on the couch, plopping his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“I couldn’t find it.” Dick pouts, eyes downcast. Dick felt Jason’s arm wrap around his shoulder, but when he didn’t comment, Dick looked up only to see Jason’s eyes looking down at his phone. He peered over, and upon closer inspection, Dick realized it was one of the many ‘Bat-Sighting’ open forums that Gothamites seemingly loved to frequent. 

Dick gave Jason a little nudge, and as Jason’s head turned Dick gave him a little peck on the lips. Dick smirked, “anything interesting?” 

Jason’s eyes widened a little upon realization, then gave a small chuckle before engulfing Dick with his arms tumbling both of them flat onto the couch, chest to chest. Dick gave a breathless laugh as he felt Jason’s weight secure atop him and wrapped his arms around Jason’s shoulders. Jason nuzzled beneath Dick’s chin before giving a quick kiss to his neck, then straightened up and pulled Dick atop his lap. He secured his arms around Dick’s waist and laid his head over Dick’s shoulder looking back at his phone. 

“Funny you should ask. It seems #Hoodwing is gaining momentum after yesterday’s little heist.” Jason gave a pointed look at Dick, who proceeded to blush remembering exactly what had happened the night before. “It seems,” Jason continued, “people just love the idea of Red Hood as Nightwing’s personal knight in shining armor.” 

“Hey! It is not my fault some scientist hit me with a tranquilizing dart. Who even carries those around anymore? And it wasn’t like I was helpless.” 

“Dickie, your legs were numb. You could not walk, you could barely stand. I had to carry– _ bridal _ carry–you out of there.” Jason said, staring pointedly at Dick, who in turn turned his head. 

“Well, are you complaining that you had to carry me?” 

Jason let out a laugh and then placed a kiss on Dick’s cheek. 

“Don’t worry prettybird, I have no complaints about last night. Most particularly when I helped you gain feeling back into those legs.” Jason said while running a hand up Dick’s thigh. Dick hit Jason’s hand softly as the comment came out and giggled as he lay back into his boyfriend’s chest. It wasn’t often they got the time just to relax and laze around at night, but after the previous night’s operation success Bruce had deemed most of the bats exempt from patrol, and Dick had decided it would be the perfect night to rewatch an old classic. That is if his boyfriend would pay more attention to him than his phone. 

“Okay, so we made it to the top of Twitter’s explore page. What else is new?” Dick asked, finally reading whatever it was that had Jason so enraptured. Dick’s eyes scanned the page and then widened upon realization. His disbelief quickly changed to uncontrollable glee. 

“Jay! You’re reading fanfiction about us!” 

Jason blushed red and then quickly turned his phone off, throwing it to the other side of the couch. 

“Okay, so I was curious, sue me.” 

Dick scrambled to get the phone back and quickly turned it back on (ignoring Jason’s incredulous “how do you know my password?”) and clicked back onto the open forum, which Dick realized now was a posting site for Nightwing and Red Hood specifically. 

“Jason there is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact,” he started with a gleam in his eye, “I think I’ve figured out a much better idea for tonight’s entertainment.” The older vigilante declared as he started to scroll through the site’s posts. 

“Dick, you can’t be serious.” 

“Why not?” Dick gave a confused pout as he looked back at Jason. 

“I don’t know, wouldn't it be like, kind of weird to read stories about ourselves?” 

“Come on, it’ll be interesting and fun. Imagine what they think we act like,” Dick gave a reassuring pat to Jason’s arm and let out a, “it’ll be fun, trust me”, before continuing to shamelessly scroll through dozens and dozens of both stories and art of the two of them. Some of which made both of them blush and quickly avert their eyes. It took a couple of minutes before Dick finally seemed to stumble upon something he liked. 

“Okay, how about this one.” 

Jason took a quick look at the description then quickly shook his head. 

“Uh-uh. No thank you.” 

“What, why!”

“It literally says Red Hood is an assassin from the League of Shadows seeking revenge against Batman and decides to fake date Nightwing in order to discover Batman’s weaknesses.”

“Yeah, and what’s wrong with that?” 

“It sounds way too dramatic and devastatingly doomed.”

“ ‘Devastatingly doomed’, never heard that one before.”

Jason gave him a look and Dick quickly tried to amend, “but it’s tagged ‘angst with a happy ending’ so you know at the end Red Hood realizes he actually does love Nightwing and it’s all happily ever after,” Dick says smiling cheekily back at Jason. He started again, “don’t you want to see us live happily ever after together after facing numerous life-threatening obstacles?” Jason remained unamused and took another glance at the post before shaking his head again. 

“It’s also 70k words. Nah, we’re not getting through that tonight. Pick something

shorter.” 

Dick gave a huff but went back to scrolling. After a few more minutes, with both Dick and Jason reading story descriptions, Jason’s eye finally caught something. He plucked the phone out of Dick’s hand and clicked the link. 

“Hey–” Dick started but Jason placed a finger to his lips. 

“Shh Dickiebird I’m tryna read.” Jason’s eyes scanned the first couple lines and seemed satisfied. He handed the phone back to Dick and made himself comfortable on the couch, pulling Dick closer to his chest and grabbed one of the blankets to cover them. 

“Not even gonna ask for my opinion are you,” Dick asked sarcastically. His eyes ran across the short synopsis and then let out a little laugh.

“Jay, this seems oddly similar to that other story, just shorter.” 

“Well, you wanted to read.” Jason shrugged. 

Dick smiled back at Jason and rearranged himself atop of Jason. 

“Okay, killer assassins, secret identities, and betrayal, I’m so down.” 

_______________________________

It wasn’t supposed to go this way. 

The mission was so simple. Infiltrate, extract, disappear. It had gotten too messy, Hood could see that now. He wasn’t supposed to have gotten so close to Nightwing, he wasn’t even supposed to have come face to face with him. Batman was the main target, as the League of Shadows had all but shoved down his throat. They had emphasized the need to stay unattached and quiet. Give Batman no reason to suspect anything but an unsteady truce between two foes with the same enemy. 

The ruse was that a drug lord had dirt on the League that needed to be exterminated, and this same drug lord had recently started operations in Gotham. Hood had begrudgingly offered help to the Bat in exchange for silence of the criminal. Hood had gained access to the Cave three months into the mission, and by the end of it Hood was supposed to have come out with the coordinates of a missile launcher the League wanted. He wasn’t supposed to end up with  _ this _ . 

_ This, _ being cornered in a dusty old abandoned warehouse with six league assassins, and Nightwing on his knees at their mercy. Two League assassins stood behind the blue-clad vigilante, restraining his arms behind him, and the one on the left held a knife to his throat. One flick and it would cut through the carotid arteries. Hood could see the slight unsteadiness in Nightwing’s stance, the deep inhale of his chest, and the slight lull of his head against the knife. They had drugged him with something Hood was sure of it. Which wasn’t too surprising considering Nightwing was still recovering from a gunshot wound and broken leg. That was partly how they had met as well, because of Nightwing’s injuries. 

By his third month in Gotham, Hood had access not only to the Batcave, but also the annoyingly talkative bluebird that was residing in it. Nightwing had been in recovery, and it seemed he had been staying in the medbay in the cave. Hood had tried with every visit not to engage with whatever useless chatter Nightwing came up with, but even Hood had his limits. It started with pretty neutral talk. What the weather was like, which Gotham Rogue was wreaking havoc in the city, and of course making fun of the stoicism of Batman (though the Red Hood himself wasn’t much better in the beginning). 

Hood put up a pretense of himself, and he did everything in his power not to get personal. His plan went to hell when Nightwing, on some pretty high pain medication, kissed him square on the lips, then confessed. The kiss was anything but good. Nightwing was doped up, he was slurring every other word (all he had talked about was how ‘hot’ and ‘swol’ Hood was), and after his kiss, he had proceeded to flop face down into Hood’s lap, asleep and dead to the world.

Hood in turn ran away and didn’t go back to the cave until a week later. 

Within that week, Hood tried to cut the picture of Nightwing out of his mind, but doing so only made him think about the older vigilante more. In the time they spent together, the undercover assassin had learned more about Nightwing than he bargained for, and beneath it, he realized how hauntingly  _ good _ Nightwing truly was. Hood spent half his time with the hero trying to get him back into bed and not into the streets. There was a deep-set bravery and sense of justice in him, and Hood begrudgingly found himself admiring him for it. Hood had also never seen the hero without his mask but he realized even with it on Nightwing was a sight to behold. 

When he did finally reconnect a week later the first thing he did was pull Nightwing into a deep kiss. The other hero spluttered and was shocked for all of two seconds before responding quickly with an equally deep kiss.

Things were smooth after that, or as smooth as they could be for an undercover assassin trying to steal intel from his for-real-now boyfriend’s boss. Hood was worrying himself silly over the last month trying to figure out a way to confess, but it seemed he hadn’t needed to. 

The League had sought him out when he failed to report with his monthly check-in. Hood had hoped to stay under the radar for a couple more weeks, but it seemed that was too much to hope for. They had come looking for him in the dead of the night, but when they found Red Hood’s safe house empty they quickly took to the streets, and they found not only Hood, but Nightwing as well. 

Hood watched in dismay as Nightwing struggled feebly against his captors. It didn’t help that Hood was sure Nightwing had some toxin coursing through his veins, he just hoped it wasn’t anything lethal. 

“It is a necessary death.” The one holding the knife spoke. Hood glared beneath his mask, but he was prevented from any movement in the case that the assassin decided to do good on his word. 

“Stop,” Hood started, “I have the coordinates. They’re here in my pockets, you want them right? I’ll give them to you,” he held one hand up open-palmed, before slowly reaching into his jacket with the other, all the while keeping his eyes trained on the assassin with the blade, “if you just let him go.” Hood was bluffing, he had stopped trying to get the coordinates by month five, but he was praying to god the assassins didn’t know. 

The assassin regarded him for a second before he slowly lowered the knife. 

“If you have what you need then you will have no qualms with reporting your findings back to the Demon’s Head.” The words were spoken out as a threat, and Jason recognized them as such. He shifted his eyes until he was looking Nightwing in the eye, he hoped that the other vigilante was looking back at him. 

“Okay,” Hood kept his hand in his jacket, grasping where he hoped was a knife, “I go with you, you get the coordinates, and you let him go.” 

“Wha-what coordinates?” Nightwing asked weakly. Hood was relieved to see that the drug had not damaged his speech too badly, or more hopeful, it was wearing off.

The assassin to the left of Nightwing turned a questioning look back at Hood. 

“So,” he drawled, “the bird does not know.” 

He saw the one with the blade smirk and then the blade was pressed hard against his throat, much too close to skin than Hood was comfortable with. 

“Don’t! He doesn’t know anything.” Hood grasped at straws trying to keep the assassin’s attention on him. While he could probably dispose of the four behind him, he couldn’t do anything with that knife so close to Nightwing’s throat. 

“H-Hood, what, what are they talking about?” Nightwing’s voice was coming out stronger and Hood let a small tendril of hope flare out. If Nightwing could just get himself away from the knife then maybe Hood could quickly take care of the assassins behind him. 

“Hm, you truly thought it best not to disclose your true intentions to him. A man you are seemingly willing to give up your life’s work for.” 

“It’s not my life’s work, it was the only work I could do.” Jason ground out between clenched teeth. He didn’t like where this conversation was headed. 

“Red, what are they talking–” but he was interrupted as the guard on his left grabbed a fistful of hair yanking his head backward. 

“You are to be silent.” He snapped. 

“Your ‘beloved’” the other one spat out, sliding the knife delicately along the length of Nightwing’s neck, “is doing the work of the Great Demon’s Head. Such work has brought him to the Batman’s doorstep, and in completing his task he was to return at once with the asset. Which,” the knife stopped at the top of Nightwing’s collarbone, “he has evidently not done.” 

With a flick of his wrist, the knife grazed across the length of his neck leaving a shallow scrape. Nightwing let out a gasp and Hood made a move towards him but was stopped this time by a hard hand grabbing his forearm. Hood shrugged the hand off and glared back at the assassin but refrained from moving again. 

“It seems our secret has been revealed in his presence,” the assassin said with a tilt of his head, “we need to tie all our loose ends here.” 

“He won’t say anything,” Hood growled out. 

“Well,” the assassin said with a sinister smile, “that is a risk we can not take.” 

The blade was pressed once again to the center of Nightwing’s throat, and Hood could see that it had broken skin, a thin line of red appearing across the span of skin. Nightwing let a soft choke and that was all Hood needed before he was leaping into action. 

Hood snatched the throwing knives in his jacket and quickly aimed one at the hand of the assassin with the blade. The assassin let a shrill scream as the knife embedded itself into his hand. The blade he had been holding clattered to the ground and Hood was aiming another at the hand of the other guard. The knife hit its mark and then Hood was making a dive towards Nightwing. 

Just as Hood reached him, he felt a  _ whizz  _ past his ear and cursed himself. He whirled around and saw one of the four guards previously behind him gearing up a shuriken. Hood dodged out of the way of the first and retrieved a set of dual blades from his jacket. He made quick work of the first two, effectively disarming them then knocking them both out with a few well placed kicks. He stared back at Nightwing only to see the two guards around him starting to get up. 

Nightwing seemed to have gained some mobility in his limbs though, and Hood watched as he swung his legs clocking out the guard that had almost gutted him. Nightwing jumped to his feet but the other guard had been faster and threw a hit right into his stomach. The vigilante doubled over and before Hood knew what he was thinking he was ramming himself headfirst into the guard. 

The two went down in a tussle and Hood felt his head knocked back before quickly throwing his fists into the other man’s face. Hood aimed another kick to the guard’s legs and as they crumpled he dealt a blow right in the center of the guard’s face. 

Hood turned to see the other two assassins he had not dealt with, then quickly glanced back at Nightwing who was still doubled over, swaying slightly. Hood made a split-second decision and groped around his jacket for a smoke bomb. He wasn’t going to try and delay any more time in getting the two of them out of here. 

He threw the bomb engulfing the warehouse in a haze, then picked up Nightwing over his shoulder and shot his grapple gun to the roof. He heard Nightwing groan slightly, and tightened his hold as the two of them shot out of the skylights. They landed roughly on the roof before Hood was quickly grappling away towards another building. He didn’t stop until he was lost in the densely packed center of Gotham City, and came to a stop on a rooftop nestled snugly between two taller buildings. 

Nightwing gave another quiet groan and Hood gently kneeled down, laying him down on the ground. He gentle guided him into a sitting position, propping a hand against the hero’s back and positioning him so that he was horizontal to Hood. 

“Wing, talk to me, you hurt anywhere?” Nightwing gave a quiet mumble before clutching his head and groaning. Hood gently rubbed his back and after a minute or two he seemed back in commission.

“Just-just a little nauseous,” he started, “but I think whatever they gave me is wearing off.” Nightwing gave a sigh and then leaned his head against Hood’s chest letting out a deep breath. Hood sat himself down and pulled Nightwing closer to his body. He placed one of his arms around the vigilante’s waist, and peered down at Nightwing’s face. 

Even with the mask on, Hood marveled at the man beneath him. He couldn’t understand how Nightwing had come to develop feelings for him. Not when Hood’s job meant he broke just about all of the Bat’s Code twice a day. Maybe it had been doomed from the start. The League knew now that Hood had defected. Sooner or later Gotham would be infested with assassins looking for both him and the nuclear coordinates. He’d had to leave town before that, he couldn’t let the League find him, they’d kill him now. But he didn’t want to leave. Not when Gotham offered him the opportunity to be with Nightwing. His goals were different now, and maybe they had always been. It had only taken a little experiencing the other side of the tracks and a special bird to help him realize it. But would Nightwing even want him anymore? After everything that had just happened (he had been about to die!) would there even be an opportunity for Hood to apologize? 

Hood was so deep in thought, he didn’t even realize Nightwing’s hand against the cheek of his helmet. 

“I can hear you thinking.” Nightwing said with a gentle smile, “Stop. Whatever happened, happened. In the end you saved me, I’m not going to disregard that.” 

Hood gave a sigh and then pulled Nightwing tight to his chest, clutching a hand into his hair and the other across his back. Hood felt Nightwing’s arms tighten around his waist, and it took everything in him not to just almost collapse right there on the roof. 

“I’m sorry.” Hood murmured into the older hero’s hair, “I should have told you sooner. I–” he stammered. What could he say now that Nightwing knew everything. He couldn’t fathom how he would want to stay with someone that had lied from the very start. 

Nightwing stared up at the metallic red shine of Hood’s helmet, and then unwound his arms around Hood’s waist, and instead reached for the safety locks underneath the helmet. Hood remained still as the helmet let out a hiss of air before being lifted off his head, revealing a thin domino mask. 

“Hood, I know what you did, and I’m not saying we’re not going to talk about it, because we are. But right now, after what just happened, all I really want to do is go home.” Nightwing chuckled lightly, “Honestly I think the drug is still in my system because I can barely feel my toes.” He took another look at Hood’s face and softened when he realized Hood was looking anywhere but at him. 

Nightwing gently placed a palm against his cheek, angling it down until the two were face to face. He gently stroked his thumb along the side of Hood’s face and then leaned in slowly. When Hood gave no indication of moving Nightwing placed his lips on Hood’s, pushing just slightly. Hood kissed back and Nightwing signed softly into the kiss. After a moment, Nightwing leaned back slightly but still kept his hand gently resting on Hood’s face. 

“I also have enough trust in this relationship, and in you not to blow this out of proportion. You haven’t lied to me about anything else right?” he asked, chuckling. 

“No. Nothing.” Hood replied quickly. “I’ll explain everything I swear. Don’t doubt what I feel for you just because I screwed up, I swear it’s real, what I feel for you, it–it’s all real I swear, I would never lie about that you–”

“I’m not doubting you,” Nightwing interrupted. He could see that Hood was still hung up and pressed a quick peck against his cheek. “What I feel for you is real as well.” he gave a sigh, and felt suddenly the rush of exhaustion sweeping his body. He sagged slightly into Hood’ chest. 

“Can we just go someplace else now, please? Preferably somewhere that has a bed? I still can’t feel my toes.” he asked quietly. 

Hood gave a small laugh and rearranged his hold on Nightwing. 

“You sure you can hold onto me right now.” 

“Yes I’m sure. I’m not totally numb, just my feet.” 

Hood dropped a quick kiss to Nightwing’s head, and then started the process of getting the hero safely wrapped around his body as he readied his grappling gun. Hood’s eyes scanned the buildings around him and headed towards one of his backup safe houses which he hadn’t disclosed to the League, and leapt away into the night with Nightwing tight to his chest. 

_______________________________

“Aw, that was pretty cute.” 

“Cute? Dick, you were about to be gutted right in front of me.” 

“Yes, but you didn’t let that happen, and in the end everything worked out fine.” Dick said while pressing a firm kiss onto Jason’s cheek. 

“I wouldn’t say ‘fine’ but at least they're still together. Though Hood sure has some explaining to do.” 

“Yes he does. But also what are the chances that Nightwing couldn’t feel his feet in this and the Big Bad Hood had to carry him back to safety. Sounds pretty accurate to me.” Dick quips. 

“Hmmm,” Jason let out a smirk and then lifted Dick up, arms under his knees and torso, “well, maybe we should do a quick recreation. Just for the fun of it.”

Dick made a quick noise of surprise and then gave a flirty smile at Jason. 

“Why don’t we make our way to the bedroom for an ever more accurate depiction.” 

Jason made a sound of approval and headed towards the bedroom. 

“I won’t say no to that.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh first fanfic out of the way!! I'm so excited to finally post something, and I'll try to update the tags as I go along, but I'm still getting the hang of tagging. Also, I did not very well edit this (ie. did not edit at all), so feel free to point out any mistakes!
> 
> Also as it was mentioned this fic is inspired by elwon's 'Constant Craving: An Underused Trope Anthology' so you should definitely check that out it is amazing. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


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